Look and Feel
I was immediately impressed by industrial design of the Zenfone 2. It has an understated style that gives the phone a simple yet elegant look, and the Zenfone 2 does not look or feel like a budget device. Lets take a look around the phone.
The front of the device is dominated by the 5.5-inch screen, with physical navigation keys below.
The back is curved toward the edges giving the phone a slimmer feel and has a brushed metallic finish on the plastic back panel. There are faint but tangible grooves running across the back that provide this a secure feel with a surprising amount of grip, and the effect looks very good up close.
The long middle cutout in the back panel isn’t just for the camera, as the vertical rocker below the camera sensor controls volume.
The top of the phone contains the sleep/wake button and 3.5 mm headphone jack, and this view also provides a better look at the curved back panel design.
Looking at the lower half of the back we see an unobtrusive grill in the plastic below the logo which contains the (mono) speaker.
The back panel tapers down to 3.9 mm at the edges
Overall the phone feels very well made, with an excellent fit and finish to all components and a great feel from the textured back panel. ASUS offers several options for this removable panel, and it snaps off quite easily to provide access to the dual SIM card slots and micro SD slot.
Folio Case
ASUS included a folio cover accessory with our review unit, and this cover actually replaces the back panel on the phone. Simply pull of the plastic back (which snaps into place) and snap it on for added protection – plus the extra features enabled with the cover installed.
The folio cover window will display a customizable variety of information such as time, weather, and recent activity. This only appears when the phone wakes with the cover closed, as lifting the cover from the screen automatically wakes the device.
This cover has a trim appearance and textured finish that adds grip
Next we'll check out the 5.5-inch touchscreen.
Oh boy, now I can destroy my
Oh boy, now I can destroy my privacy for only $200! Thanks Pcper for letting me know about this amazing opportunity!
nobody cares about you so
nobody cares about you so your privacy is safe
Hi Sebastian,
thank you for
Hi Sebastian,
thank you for the detailed review! You might want to add that $199 model also supports Quick Charge technology, but doesn’t come with the Quick Charge adapter in the box.
Question, did you have a chance to use lower specs model (2GB/16GB Z5360 CPU)? I understand that it slower then $299 one, but how does it feel/respond during Lollipop normal usage?
Thank you!
Thanks, and the BoostMaster
Thanks, and the BoostMaster compatibilty is an important distinction. I didn't personally test the 16GB version with the Z3560, as the sample I was using was the $299 model. Given the way the SoCs are optimized I don't think there would be a significant UI/UX difference, but there's an obvious performance difference from our benchmarks in certain applications.
The best thing about this SOC
The best thing about this SOC is that it is not using Intel Graphics, so expect much better graphics from a GPU with the execution resources to do the JOB. I just wish that M$ could persuade Intel to use even higher end powerVR graphics and make a surface tablet useful for graphics uses. I hear that Intel is moving away from PowerVR to Mali graphics, but as long as its not Intel’s graphics.
Thank you Sebastian. I
Thank you Sebastian. I ordered $199 model for my dad and it should be here next week. It will be his first Android phone coming from candy-bar Nokia, so we’ll see how it’s going to be. But I didn’t feel he would need the higher spec mode and quick charger and microSDXC 64Gb card is around $40 from Amazon.
If Ryan was testing Z5360 model, could you ask him to chime in the comments with his experience of it?
Too bad that camera seems to be lacking a bit for daylight shots, though it seems that Asus releases firmware updates every couple weeks for this phone, so may be things will get better. If I like what I see, I might get myself a $299 one later this summer.Thanks again for the review!
I used the model with the
I used the model with the lower end processor but I will say that the experience and fluidity of the unit was just as Sebastian described in the review. It was smooth and I didn't know any performance penalties of the lower cost model even when I had both phones in my possession at the same time.
That’s good to know, thank
That’s good to know, thank you Ryan. I enjoy your site a lot and listen to the podcast on weekly basis. That’s actually how I remembered about ZenFone2 (even though I saw CES presentation about it), when Sebastian had as his pick couple weeks ago. Keep up a good work and thanks again!
Any chance you could find out
Any chance you could find out which benchmarks are x86 compiled and which ones are running ARM via translation layer? Or did you mention it and I missed it?
That’s a great question. I
That’s a great question. I need to do some research as I’m not sure off hand. The difference in performance in some of the benchmarks could easily be explained based on native/non-native code, though in the real world I do think it’s fair to judge it as-is considering one does have the option of downloading x86 apps from the Play store (not that devs would offer it at this point anyway).
bad.
bad.
Ryan..I really want to win
Ryan..I really want to win that car! It’s being given away on the next podcast I hear!
It has two 980ti’s installed
It has two 980ti’s installed as well I hear.
I would have guessed a pair
I would have guessed a pair of TITAN Z’s for the car. Gotta have that double precision for better handling